Clevis Hook Testing: How Mazzella Assisted NASA

Intro

Since you’re watching this, you most likely know that there are several companies focused on the exploration of the planets in our solar system. And in this video, we get the opportunity to look a bit above an overhead crane system for a second and see how Mazzella Companies was able to take part in the research of an application focused on solving one of the biggest challenges with interstellar travel: ridiculously high gas prices.

Pound Per Payload impact on a launch

The cost of launching something out of Earth’s atmosphere is roughly $10,000 per pound of payload. So take a second and think about how heavy your suitcase would be if you knew you were heading to Mars for a vacation or, probably, for scientific research. If that suitcase runs a minimum of 50 pounds, you’re looking at a checked bag fee of $500,000. Now, add the weight of all the other equipment and the other people that need to go to Mars with you, and you’re looking at a pretty hefty fee.

Getting interstellar travelers back home

Aside from the cost of fuel per pound of payload, there’s another looming problem that NASA and their partners are working to solve: ensuring that future interstellar pioneers have enough fuel to come back home.

Bigger rockets aren’t the solution

And beyond that, perhaps having a source of fuel and resources that would allow us to start using our neighboring lunar and Martian surfaces as a kickoff point to explore the planets beyond the asteroid belt. Now, you might think that the quick fix would be to build bigger rockets with larger fuel storage capacity, so you could take even more fuel with you. However, that solution doesn’t help the price per pound of payload issue or the sustainability of space exploration.

Scavenging to survive off Earth

But what if you didn’t need to take any extra fuel with you? What if, instead of needing fuel for the entire trip, you could refuel from the International Space Station using fuel produced from the resource material on the moon? And what if the fuel you were going to use to either get back home or to explore even further was already waiting for you on Mars? NASA’s Moon to Mars initiative is focused on learning how to live away from Earth by utilizing the available resources on the other planets in our solar system. Because of that, several divisions of NASA and other private companies like SpaceX and Boeing are researching ways to live and thrive beyond Earth’s atmosphere, specifically for this project, on Mars. Two problems that NASA scientists and engineers are working through are the creation and storage of oxygen and the creation and storage of a viable fuel source.

An introduction to In-Situ Resource Utilization

For the oxygen issue, NASA has already been practicing the baseline process in-situ resource utilization, or ISRU for short, on Mars. It’s the process that produces oxygen out of the resources available on the Martian surface.

An introduction to Liquefaction

And for the fuel issue, that’s where the team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center and our team here at Mazzella Companies, both based in Cleveland, Ohio, come into this story. The NASA team is proposing that one could use the process of liquefaction on the oxygen created by the ISRU to create a brand new storable fuel source. NASA plans to demonstrate how the liquefaction of oxygen would work either on a lunar or a Martian surface, helping move forward the mission to Mars and beyond. Their plan is to create and store the fuel for up to two years, allowing Martian explorers to leave our atmosphere with a decreased mass of fuel, reducing the cost of liftoff while providing a method to refuel and come back home.

NASA’s Engineering team explaining the Clevis Hook

NASA’s engineers have been hard at work designing and specifying several components that would be used in the liquefaction and storage system. But those components needed to be tested to ensure they can hold up in various hazardous environments.To do that, NASA needed to establish a working load limit on the weakest part of one specific component, a clevis hook manufactured by them, that would connect to and lift the fuel tank into position for use.

Mazzella’s role in assisting NASA

The clevis hook was taken to Mazzella Companies’ headquarters, where our engineers were tasked with using the fabricated grommet sling with an eyebolt to allow our testers to simulate the approximate forces that they would experience on the Martian surface. Since the tank would be filling up with fuel, it was important that NASA’s clevis hook could withstand an array of forces inflicted upon it without bending or breaking.

The importance of proof testing your components

During the break test, it wasn’t the clevis hook or the pin that broke; it was the steel plate used to connect the two clevis hooks after reaching 14,000 pounds. The pin of the clevis hook did show signs of bending and deformation, but also exceeded NASA’s expectations. The purpose of these tests was to establish and certify a working load limit of NASA’s clevis hooks so they could be used in the fabrication of their liquefaction fuel storage system. With the testing completed and NASA’s clevis hooks certified, their engineering department can now focus on the fabrication, testing, and demonstration of their fuel systems. Those demonstrations are planned to take place late summer or early fall of 2019.

Closing

When two companies start working together toward a common goal, there is nothing that cannot be achieved. So if you need help with your lifting and rigging application or just have a few questions to ask, don’t hesitate to reach out or head to our website and schedule a free consultation.